A game-changing approach to medical care

CNBC Sponsored Content—January 6, 2017

CNBC writes how translating basic findings into new ways of treating and preventing musculoskeletal conditions is the core of the research mission of Hospital for Special Surgery. HSS utilizes a unusual collaboration between researchers, doctors and patients.

"In most institutions, the relationship between basic and clinical research hasn't been fully developed," said Lionel B. Ivashkiv, MD, chief scientific officer at HSS. "Thus scientists are often unaware of important clinical questions, or work on diseases without the benefit of a clinician's insights about the disease or the healing process. A true partnership builds upon ideas and expertise from both sides."

Robert N. Hotchkiss, MD, medical director of clinical research at HSS, added that this collaboration is part of the "culture of innovation" that is unique to HSS and results in better patient outcomes. Engineers who can study the patient directly have a "completely different conception" of how to design a prosthetic or an implant. "If you tried to do that by a meeting or webinar or something, you wouldn't have that tangible sensibility," said Dr. Hotchkiss.

"It's a really nice ecosystem we have," said Catherine H. MacLean, MD, PhD, chief value medical officer at HSS. "[HSS] is set up in such a way that we can take that research that's done and then turn that into products that we can use in the delivery of our care."

"We have individuals who do research, who innovate, who leverage that deep knowledge they have to say, how can we do better in the future?" added Louis A. Shapiro, president and CEO of HSS.